Skewer: rook to h8
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The tactical motive
Skewer: a valuable piece is forced to move, exposing the one behind it.
Difficulty 614 ShuffleRating — for beginners taking their first steps in Chess960 tactics.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A skewer is a pin reversed — the valuable piece stands in front and, when it moves, the piece behind falls. Line your rook, bishop or queen up against the king or queen and win whatever is hiding behind it.
General method: before you move, list the forcing candidates — every check, every capture, every direct threat — and calculate those first. The solution to a tactic is almost always among them.
Position on the board
White: king b3, rook h7, bishop c1, pawn c2 a4 b5.
Black: king f8, rook a8, knight g4, pawn h4 c5 g5 b6 f6 a7.
6 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 42.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (11 against 14; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b3, the black king on f8.
It is White to move on move 42, with 25 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: f, g, h.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
42. Rh8+ Ke7 43. Rxa8
Why it works
- Great move! rook to h8 keeps the pressure (+2.7).
- Well found: rook to a8 (+4.0).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Ke7, then Rxa8 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 42. Rh8+ — rook to h8 with check
- Ke7 — king to e7
- 43. Rxa8 — rook to a8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Skewer
A line attack forces the valuable piece to move, exposing the one behind it.
A skewer is a pin turned inside out: the valuable piece stands in front and something cheaper hides behind it. The big piece must step aside, and you collect the one that was sheltering in its shadow. Scan for the enemy king or queen sharing a file, rank or diagonal with another enemy piece. The deadliest version comes with check — the king moves, the rook behind it dies.
Endgame tactic
Tactics live in the endgame too — strike while material is scarce.
Tactics do not retire when the queens come off: forks, pins and double attacks live on in the endgame. With so little material left, every tactical loss is almost always decisive. The signs are the usual ones — undefended pieces, king and piece on one line, a pawn about to promote. Even in a "technical" ending, scan for a shot before every move, both yours and your opponent's.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 001
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